Postal Service Hopes to Boost Revenue by Mailing Alcohol

The U.S. Postal Service has been struggling monetarily. A proposal earlier this year that would have cut mail service to five days a week was ultimately denied, but now U.S. Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe has a different idea — make a profit mailing alcohol. According to CNBC, the Postmaster wants the U.S. Postal Service to deliver beer, wine, and spirits directly to consumers from the wineries, breweries, and distilleries themselves. Apparently the new plan could make the struggling agency around $50 million per year. Currently, it is illegal for the USPS to ship alcohol; because of that alcohol-related businesses are forced to use private couriers. The Postal Service hopes to have special boxes that would be sized for wine and beer and would attempt to take the middleman out of the picture. "There's a lot of money to be made in shipping beer, wine, and spirits. We'd like to be in that business," explained Donahoe. Now the new strategy lies in the hands of Congress, since the law would have to be adjusted for the proposal to come to fruition.